Daily news and top headlines for broadband communications engineering and design professionals

DirecTV was offering a 12-month discount, without adequate notice that the discount comes only with a 24-month contract. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed in a conspicuous way, the FTC said, charging the company with hiding the details of the offer in fine print.

FiOS subscribers will still be able to get weather news on TV. Verizon on Tuesday launched the new AccuWeather Network on one channel and its mobile app and has a WeatherBug "widget" on another channel.

Videotron said the acquisition of the data center will give its Business Solutions an advantage when it comes to offering bundled services to Quebec businesses, which like businesses elsewhere are increasingly interested in digitizing and decentralizing their data servers.

Deutsche Telekom has partnered with Vubiquity to help other media companies launch their own multi-screen video services. Vubiquity will provide all content-related services for Deutsche Telekom’s VideoRise multi-screen delivery solution.

MSOs are getting their subscribers to use their VOD services a little more often, but progress on this front remains modest, in part because operators are still failing to entice their subscribers away from Netflix.

In the last six months, Comcast has added 90,000 accounts to its Internet Essentials plan, which makes broadband available at more affordable rates for low-income customers. The company said the recent additions set a new six-month enrollment record for the program.

The ACA has petitioned the FCC to make it easier for its members to collectively bargain with programmers, which the organization argues will help smaller operators maintain margins, in turn giving them greater latitude to extend and improve broadband services.

Eastlink will be using CSG’s new Ascendon to introduce a new online storefront and digital services to customers across Canada this spring. CSG's Ascendon is designed to pave the way to support digital services such as movies, games, and home security.

HBO Now will be $14.99 a month (as many people guessed), it will be available in time for the Game of Thrones season premiere, but if you want to see it on your big screen TV, it will be available only on Apple TV boxes -- for now.

Comcast CCO D’Arcy F. Rudnay has been promoted from senior vice president to executive vice president. D’Arcy is the first woman promoted to EVP at Comcast. The company also promoted general counsel Arthur Block to EVP.

Starting Tuesday, "Powers" will be free to PlayStation subscribers, with the first episode free to anyone for streaming through the PlayStation Store web site (a PlayStation console is not required). Subsequent episodes will be available for purchase by non-subscribers.